Outside Groups Target Rahall

The ads, paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American
Action Network, Americans for Prosperity and the American Energy
Alliance, target Rahall for his support of the Affordable Care Act,
commonly known as Obamacare, and his perceived support of a carbon
tax.

Rahall has said repeatedly he does not support a carbon tax.

"It's a shame West Virginians have to go through this a year
before the election, but that's not my choice," Rahall said in a
phone interview Thursday.

The Chamber of Commerce ad is the only one of the three that does
not specifically mention Rahall, instead endorsing his likely
opponent, state Sen. Evan Jenkins.

"Evan knows Obamacare is a mess, and is getting worse every
single day. Jobs at risk. Health -care premiums rising. West
Virginia can't afford Obamacare. It's time for a change," the ad
says, over ominous music and a black-and-white backdrop of
Washington landmarks.

The Chamber is buying more than $105,000 in airtime for the ad,
the Associated Press reported.

The Chamber also released an ad supporting Rep. Shelley Moore
Capito in her campaign for U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Chamber spent about $35.7 million on the 2012 elections,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The ads supporting
Jenkins and Capito appear to be a rarity, as the Chamber used less
than 10 percent of its 2012 spending on ads supporting individual
candidates. It spent a far greater amount of money - $28 million -
on ads opposing Democratic candidates.

"These ads make clear Nick Rahall can no longer mislead West
Virginians about his support for Obamacare and a coal-killing carbon
tax," Jenkins said in an email statement.

The American Action Network also targeted Rahall for his support
of the ACA. In November, the group sent a series of mailings to
seniors in Southern West Virginia. The mailings say, "Congressman
Nick Rahall and Obamacare mean higher health care costs.

"Medical costs that were already increasing too fast are now
going up even faster - 33 percent faster than before," one mailing
said.

But the mailings offer no source for that figure or any of the
other figures they cite.

Data released in September by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services estimate that since 2010, health spending, per
capita, has been growing at just 1.3 percent annually, the lowest
rate since 1960.

"The growth rate from 2010 to 2013 is, in fact historically
unprecedented," a White House analysis of the data said. "From the
time this data series begins in the 1960s to the present, no earlier
three-year period saw a lower growth rate."

In an email, Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for the American Action
Network, cited an Associated Press article that said health care
spending is expected to increase by 33 percent next year as millions
of people are expected to gain coverage to Medicaid or private
insurance through the ACA.

The article did not address per capita spending or health- care
costs and said that over the long term the ACA's impact on total
health spending would be more modest.

"From 2012 to 2022, the new law is projected to add about 0.1
percent to average annual health spending growth," the article said.

Davis said that AAN spent $65,000 on the advertising campaign.

American Action Network is a 501(c)(4) organization, meaning it
is a nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors but cannot
spend more than 50 percent of its money on politics.

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